Archive for the 'Technology' Category
‘The Labor Market Is in Worse Shape Than You Think’
April 7th, 2013Via: Daily Ticker: Harding says the shift to low-wage jobs from “good, middle-class” jobs such as construction workers, bookkeepers, typists, bank tellers and data entry employees, has led to growing income inequality. These positions have been replaced by modern IT systems that companies are using to cut costs and increase their bottom lines. “Companies are […]
‘Bitcoin Really Is an Existential Threat to the Modern Liberal State’
April 6th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: So far, Bitcoin is not a big deal. Its total value in circulation was $1.4 billion as of this week. That’s equivalent to the currency stock of a small nation — somewhere between Iceland and Uruguay — and just one-thousandth of the total value of U.S. dollars in circulation. The volume of transactions […]
Interspecies Telepathy: Human Thoughts Make Rat Move
April 5th, 2013Via: New Scientist: Telepathic control of another person’s body is a small step closer. By linking the technologies of two brain/computer interfaces, human volunteers were able to trigger movement in a rat’s tail using their minds. Recently, researchers linked the brains of two rats so that they worked together to accomplish a taskMovie Camera. Such […]
And Now… Harvard and MIT Magic 8 Ball Will Grade Essays
April 5th, 2013Via: New York Times: Imagine taking a college exam, and, instead of handing in a blue book and getting a grade from a professor a few weeks later, clicking the “send” button when you are done and receiving a grade back instantly, your essay scored by a software program. And then, instead of being done […]
New Hybrid Memory Cube Spec to Boost DRAM Bandwidth by 15X
April 4th, 2013Via: Computer World: Backed by 100 tech companies, the three largest memory makers announced the final specifications for three-dimensional DRAM, which is aimed at increasing performance for networking and high performance computing markets. Micron, Samsung and Hynix are leading the technology development efforts backed by the Hybrid Memory Cube Consortium (HMC). The technology, called a […]
Stanford Bioengineers Make Transistor from Genetic Materials
April 3rd, 2013Via: Extreme Tech: Bioengineers at Stanford University have created the first biological transistor made from genetic materials: DNA and RNA. Dubbed the “transcriptor,” this biological transistor is the final component required to build biological computers that operate inside living cells. We are now tantalizingly close to biological computers that can detect changes in a cell’s […]
$100-Million Brain-Mapping Project
April 2nd, 2013Via: io9: President Obama announced plans this morning for a long-term research project to improve our understanding of the brain. Comparing it to the Human Genome Project, Obama said the brain-mapping initiative could lead to cures for diseases like Alzheimer’s and autism, while fueling economic growth and job creation. … BRAIN stands for “Brain Research […]
What Does a Tablet Do to the Child’s Mind?
April 2nd, 2013Via: New York Times: I recently watched my sister perform an act of magic. We were sitting in a restaurant, trying to have a conversation, but her children, 4-year-old Willow and 7-year-old Luca, would not stop fighting. The arguments — over a fork, or who had more water in a glass — were unrelenting. Like […]
Air Force Wants New Energy Weapons to Cause Non-Lethal ‘Bioeffects’
April 1st, 2013To be clear… Via: Danger Room: The Air Force is preparing to spend millions researching how unknown “bioeffects” happen when the human body is blasted by radiowaves and high-powered microwaves — which the Air Force hopes could lead to exotic new energy weapons. Recently, the Air Force Bioeffects Division announced it’s exploring how radiation from […]
Canadian Researchers Claim Fuel Cell Breakthrough
March 30th, 2013Via: Vancouver Sun: Researchers at the University of Calgary say they’ve made a breakthrough that could make renewable energy much more practical and affordable. Their paper published in the journal Science says they’ve found a much easier and cheaper way to build an electrolyzer, which uses electricity to break up water into hydrogen and oxygen, […]
